demonizing the web auction site

[Rasputin]

I have been collecting for some time now and have seen a particular trend toward auction sites, in particular Ebay. I have heard it referred to as Evilbay, FeeBay and worse. I just do not understand this logic. First I would like to point out that there is a site in the US that is called Craigslist. It is a free service to sell used items locally. If you have ever tried to sell stuff on there you are sure to run into a phenomenon called "craigslist flakers". It is quite common and prevalent on the site. Now the site is not demonized for the behavior of these people. I am bringing up this example because the opposite is true for Ebay. Ebay itself is demonized for the behavior of high priced scalpers who love capitalizing on the misfortune of others. In this case the misfortune of either not knowing, or not having access to playmobil parts and or information. Ebay is a business and does charge for some one to sell, similar to a consignment store. Is the fees the cause of all this ill will towards them? I must say I would never have been able to amass such a collection if it were not for Ebay. It gives me world access to mass amounts of used and new playmobil and for this I am thankfull to them. I feel confident in resolving issues with in the transaction if any should arise. If I were to buy from craigslist or any other classified add and have the item shipped I would solely be relying on peoples honesty. There would be very little, aside from driving to the physical address, recourse available to me if a transaction were to sour. In this regard Ebay has created a sense that they are looking out for me, the buyer. Now I know there are lots of sellers out there who love to point out that Ebay charges fees and they can add up, but I ask you "would you have been able to sell the same item for the same price locally?"  If the ansere is yes than why not? If the answer is no than why hate? It is the sellers who are trying to "rip you off" and not Ebay. Ebay to me is an indispensable service that links me to a world collection that is for sale and I am thankfull for that.

My experiences are solely based on the buyers end as I have yet to sell a single piece of my collection.

[playmofire]

I ahve bought and sold through eBay, although not done any selling for 18 months or so.  I accept that there are fees to pay, but there are ways of minimising these. Many sellers, however, don't like the fees, hence the dislike of eBay.

[Rasputin]

I have bought and sold through eBay, although not done any selling for 18 months or so.  I accept that there are fees to pay, but there are ways of minimising these. Many sellers, however, don't like the fees, hence the dislike of eBay.

If in fact they are so upset about the fees then why use the site? There are places to sell stuff that no fees are imposed, such as on your front lawn . We have places that used to be quite popular in years past that were called Flea markets, I believe they are called bazaars, swap meets and or I think there is a reference to car trunk sales. They also charge fees to have a space there so this is not a new concept. There are also places that are free on the web such as craigslist but as I pointed out earlier there are trust issues involved.

I just do not get why hate a site that has revolutionized the collectors world or at least access to the worlds junk.

[playmofire]

I agree entirely with you, Ras.

[Markassius]

My bad experience with eBay was back when auctions were the only way to buy and sell things. No "buy it now" options.
The fact was that all good auctions were ruined by snipers. Buyers with very fast internet connections that placed bids in the very last second of an auction, so no one else had a chance to get in a higher bid.
A lot of complains were filed, some even with a suggested solution (the end time of an auction is automatically extended for x minutes after a bid is placed was one of them). But eBay did NOTHING against snipers for several years.
During that time, a lot of alternatives popped up on the internet. Brickbay was a big one for LEGO sets and parts. The eBay corp decided they owned the "bay" name and had the owner of brickbay change its name.
Another was the dutch local site 'Marktplaats' that has grown to be the #1 selling site in the Netherlands.
All in all have my experiences with eBay been so negative, that I stopped going there a long time ago.

This may change when I start collecting second hand playmobil, who knows?

<how come Spell Check does not recognise playmobil as a word? >

[bonniebeth]

I'm with you 100%, Ras. I love ebay, both for buying and selling, though I haven't done that much selling. Of course there are fees to sell, why would anyone expect there not to be? It's a business, and businesses have to make money or they close. I admire ebay's nearly fail-safe system for protecting buyers and sellers. It's a great way to be able to conduct safe transactions with private buyers and sellers all over the world.

[Martin Milner]

I believe eBay soured for a lot of sellers when they started increasing their fees and changing the fee structure. They always got a cut of course and that's only reasonable, and with tmillions of transactions going on every day they made a tidy profit. Then the fees went up, and a lot of people felt they were being priced out of the market. eBay also own PayPal which is the way most people pay on eBay, so they get an extra cut there.

I'm not an eBay hater btw, just aware that this was a factor. eBay has enabled me to buy things I would never find any other way, and I sold a lot of stuff on eBay just before I moved to the US, and was glad for the site and the big audience I had as a consequence. Sure I could have held a yard sale, garage sale or car boot sale, if I'd had a yard, garage or a car, but I'd never have got the same sale prices.

I think a lot of people run small sales business through eBay, selling collectibles especially which just wouldn't reach a decent market any otherway. It was the first auction site to be useable by the general public (I think), it's the biggest, and it's still a great place to go looking for stuff to buy.

[Rasputin]

My bad experience with eBay was back when auctions were the only way to buy and sell things. No "buy it now" options.
The fact was that all good auctions were ruined by snipers. Buyers with very fast internet connections that placed bids in the very last second of an auction, so no one else had a chance to get in a higher bid.

that is my favorite way to win  . I do loose to other snipers but that is to be expected. I only snipe on auctions with low prices to begin with and the ones that are "normal  2nd hand market value" I stay away from as I am looking for bargains. I do not use the sniper programs but I do it manually with multiple windows open if it is something I really want.

A lot of complains were filed, some even with a suggested solution (the end time of an auction is automatically extended for x minutes after a bid is placed was one of them). But eBay did NOTHING against snipers for several years.
During that time, a lot of alternatives popped up on the internet. Brickbay was a big one for LEGO sets and parts. The eBay corp decided they owned the "bay" name and had the owner of brickbay change its name.

I thought there was an auction site with this system. I have yet to try it but it sounds interesting. It sounds more like a real live auction, if bidders are interested the end time continues.

Another was the dutch local site 'Marktplaats' that has grown to be the #1 selling site in the Netherlands.

they must charge fees as well??

All in all have my experiences with eBay been so negative, that I stopped going there a long time ago.

This may change when I start collecting second hand playmobil, who knows?

that is interesting that you have never had a good experience. I have had over 300 buys and only a few bad deals. They were more of packing problems than sale problems so I could hardly blame ebay.

[Lindama]

I have been buying and selling all sorts on ebay for around 7 years. Most of my experiences have been positive. It has been my primary source of Playmobil for some time. I too am an avid sniper. The rationale is - if you snipe and snipe the highest amount you win. If you snipe and it is less than the next highest bidder you lose. The advantage is that there is no "bidding war" between two or more people because of the 'stealth' factor.

I have noticed a significant downturn in ebay lately though. It is difficult to sell stuff now.

[Giorginetto]

I use ebay for buying only since 2002 . I have even bought two cars from it  when i  was in the UK . I never had any problems or whatsover and the only problem with over 700 purschases from ebay was a playmobil set that never arrived . Seller didnt respond and i reported all this to ebay and ebay refunded me fully within a few days . Great service indeed. I wouldnt have even a fraction of my collections without ebay ( Playmobil , Dungeons & Dragons, CDs, DVDs, posters, Motorsport stuff ) and i am very very thankfull to its existence . It is by far the most organised auction web platform and i am very pleased that when a problem occured they resolved it so so quickly.

Ebay is the holy temple of collectors i say